Configure Mailbox Plan Attribute Flow for OLSync

Applies to: Live@edu

Topic last modified: 2012-07-30

Important:

Outlook Live Directory Sync (OLSync) is the synchronization solution for Microsoft Live@edu customers. If you are running a cloud-based e-mail service with Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises, you must use the Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization tool to synchronize your directories.

When you provision new user accounts in Outlook Live, you choose one of two mailbox plans. For detailed information about each mailbox plan, see Mailbox Plans.

Because of their specific messaging needs or regional privacy regulations, some organisations must apply a different mailbox plan for specific types of users. If you are using Outlook Live Directory Sync (OLSync), you can change the mailbox plan by setting an attribute on the on-premises mail-user object and configuring OLSync to synchronise the data to Outlook Live.

This topic explains how to configure and synchronise the mailbox plan attribute between your on-premises Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Active Directory directory service and mailboxes in Outlook Live. We recommend using an extension attribute on the mail-enabled user object in the on-premises AD DS or Active Directory to store the mail box plan data. In this topic, we use the extensionAttribute15 attribute.

The extensionAttribute15 attribute holds one of two string values: DefaultMailboxPlan or GalDisabledMailboxPlan. This data is then "flowed" by configuring the onPremise and Hosted management agents to copy the value from extensionAttribute15 to the Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010 or Microsoft ILM 2007 FP1 metaverse, and finally to Outlook Live. After OLSync synchronizes to Outlook Live, the data is copied to the mailbox object in Outlook Live and exposed by the RoleAssignmentPolicy parameter of the Get-Mailbox cmdlet.

Let's say you are using the DefaultMailboxPlan mailbox plan for all new users, but because of regulatory requirements, you must hide student information from the shared address book. To do this, you have to configure each student account with the GalDisabledMailboxPlan mailbox plan. Here's how to enable this scenario.

1. Configure the on-premises mail user

Create a test mail user that synchronises to a mailbox object in Outlook Live. The mail-enabled user should have both a user principal name (UPN) and a targetAddress attribute set to the provisioning domain.

In Active Directory Users and Computers, under View, select Advanced Features, and then open the user property page for the mail user account that you created.

On the Attribute Editor tab, set extensionAttribute15 to GalDisabledMailboxPlan.

2. Configure the attribute flow on the OnPremise management agent

By default, OLSync is configured to synchronise data stored in extensionAttribute15 and flow it to the customAttribute15 in Outlook Live. To use extensionAttribute15 for the mailbox plan, you have to edit the existing attribute flow configured for extensionAttribute15.

In Identity Manager, click Management Agents, and then double-click OnPremise.

Click Configure Attribute Flow.

Under Configure Attribute Flow, expand the user object type.

Scroll down the list of attributes under Object Type: user, and select extensionAttribute15.

Under Metaverse attribute, select MailboxPlanName.

Click Edit to set the new configuration, and then click OK.

3. Configure the attribute flow on the Hosted management agent

Open Identity Manager, click Management Agents, and then double-click Hosted.

In this video, you'll learn how to configure and synchronise the mailbox plan attribute between your on-premises Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Active Directory directory service and mailboxes in Outlook Live.